New Christian Chapel of Love UMC is the former Fountain U.M. Church. It is located on the north side of Route 292 from its junction with Route 298 in northern Kent County and is located on the northeast side of Big Woods Road. It serves the unincorporated community of Big Woods and the surrounding area. Southeast of the building is a concrete block social center. Northwest of the church building is the graveyard.

According to its cornerstone, Fountain Church was constructed in 1888. This building is the second on the site. Lake, Griffing & Stevenson Atlas of 1877 shows a church building, a school, and about 20 houses in the present Big Woods area. The first, old wooden church housed a predominately white congregation with their graveyard on the east side of the church. They abandoned the church in 1882, and a congregation of Black Methodists began worshipping on the site that same year. The present congregation uses the graveyard on the west side not to disturb graves that no longer have markers on the east side.

The building has an interesting and unusual plan, far more ambitious than other vernacular Gothic Revival churches in this area. The building is frame, but in 1956 was sheathed in brick veneer. This has resulted in the destruction of most of the structure’s wooden detailing; only the top of the belfry remains unchanged. The beauty of the detailing of this feature is an indication of the quality of the rest of the building. The Belfry is very ornate and is of the style designated as late Victorian.

Four bays long, the building is a true Latin cross in plan. The nave, two stories in height, is covered with a very steep gable roof with overhanging eaves decorated with a simple crown molding. The crossing or transcript has a 1½-story gable roof projection on the southeast and the steeple on the northwest. Windows along the sides of the building have pointed upper sashes. The church is entered via a vestibule with a central gable and two flanking, shed-roofed extensions. The doorway has a pointed-arch transom and double doors. The gables have circular louvered ventilators and a projecting altar at the rear.

Originally the exterior siding was German Shiplap; some is still visible on the rear. The building is 12’ across and 56’ long. The Belfry has a pyramidal roof with a wooden finial and vertically boarded cheeks decorated with wooden brackets and wooden applique. The front entrance was added when the brickwork was done.

A deed was made on the 26th of January 1944 by and between Rebecca Dulin Hebron, William and Grace Hebron and Edith Hebron of Kent County, and Alice Hebron Bail of Baltimore, Md. It was deeded to Fountain Methodist Church Trustees: Thomas Wilson, William Simmons, Joseph Brown, Isaiah Oakley, Morris Peaker, William Hackett, Howard Stanley, George Hackett, and Walter Massey for the fee of $5.00. On January 28, 1944, the land and church were notarized by W. Hebron and duly recorded by clerk Robert A. Shallcross. The land (church) consists of 580 feet from Station Road to Thomas Wilson property.

Fountain Church is part of a three-point charge. The churches had considered merging into one church, but that never became a reality. Coming out of the merger, Fountain Church changed its name to New Christian Chapel of Love.

Information from Maryland Historical Trust – Annapolis MD.  Researched by C. Hackett & L. Wesley